The Jehol Biota: Definition and distribution of exceptionally preserved relicts of a continental Early Cretaceous ecosystem
The Jehol Biota: Definition and distribution of exceptionally preserved relicts of a continental Early Cretaceous ecosystem
复制标题
热河生物群：保存完好的大陆早白垩世生态系统遗迹的定义和分布
DOI：
10.1016/j.cretres.2013.03.007
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发表时间：
2013-08-01
影响因子：
2.1
通讯作者：
Fuersich, Franz T.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Pan, Yanhong;Sha, Jingeng;Fuersich, Franz T.
“热河生物群”的化石研究已有近90年的历史，“热河生物群”一词之所以被广泛使用，并在今天广为人知，主要是因为在中国东北的下白垩统发现了有羽毛的恐龙、被子植物和许多其他保存完好的化石。然而，具有讽刺意味的是，热河生物群究竟代表什么以及它是如何定义的几乎没有讨论过。热河生物群的精确定义的缺乏阻碍了我们对生物群的古多样性、时空分布和辐射模式等重要问题的理解。在本文中，我们提出热河生物群是用古生态学的概念，并结合生态学和埋藏学方面，即，作为生活在中国东北地区早白垩世火山影响环境中的生物，它们被埋藏在湖泊和很少的河流沉积物中，其中大多数变成了保存完好的化石。同时也阐明了热河生物群与热河群的关系。根据修订后的定义，热河生物群目前仅在辽西、内蒙古、河北北方的义县组、九佛堂组和河北北方的化鸡营组沉积中发现。从时间上讲，它的范围从巴列姆阶到阿普梯阶，即，至少10 Ma（130-120 Ma）。(C)2013爱思唯尔有限公司保留所有权利。
Fossils from the "Jehol Biota" have been studied for nearly 90 years, and the term "Jehol Biota" has been extensively used and is well known today, largely thanks to the discovery of feathered dinosaurs, angiosperms, and numerous other exceptionally preserved fossils in the Lower Cretaceous of northeastern China. Ironically, however, what exactly the Jehol Biota represents and how it is defined has hardly been discussed. The lack of a precise definition of the Jehol Biota has hindered our understanding of such important issues as its palaeodiversity, its spatial and temporal distribution, and the pattern of radiation of the biota. In this paper, we propose that the Jehol Biota is defined by using a palaeoecological concept, and by combining ecological and taphonomic aspects, i.e., as organisms that lived in the Early Cretaceous volcanic-influenced environments of northeastern China, and were buried in lacustrine and rarely fluvial sediments, where most turned into exceptionally preserved fossils. The relationship between the Jehol Biota and the Jehol Group is also clarified. According to the revised definition, the Jehol Biota is so far only discovered in deposits of the Yixian and Jiufotang formations of western Liaoning, adjacent Inner Mongolia, and northern Hebei, and the Huajiying Formation of northern Hebei. Temporally it ranges from the Barremian to Aptian, i.e., for at least 10 Ma (130-120 Ma). (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.